1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drive device using a polymer actuator capable of moving a driven body by the polymer actuator.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 61-67882 discloses a Braille device in which a switch mechanism for confirming an operation of a push rod is provided.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 61-67882, the push rod is moved up and down by a solenoid, and when the solenoid is out of order and the push rod cannot be appropriately pushed up, the switch is not turned on, and thus, it is possible to inform abnormality.
Then, the driven body is shortened and weight thereof is reduced from needs such as a decrease in the thickness of the device and a reduction in power consumption, and a polymer actuator is considered as an actuator for driving the driven body in a predetermined direction.
The polymer actuator is configured to include electrode layers on both surfaces of an electrolyte layer and is bent and deformed in a height direction when a voltage is applied to a portion between electrode layers, and thus, a decrease in the thickness of the device and a reduction in power consumption can be promoted.
However, when the driven body is driven to be raised by the polymer actuator bent and deformed in a predetermined direction, a force in an inclined direction is generated between the polymer actuator and the driven body in order to bend and deform the polymer actuator, and the driven body may be driven in a state of being inclined. In this case, the driven body is caught between openings provided on a case, the driven body cannot protrude straight from the opening and with a predetermined dimension, and particularly, this easily occurs as the size of the driven body is decreased and the weight thereof is decreased.
Such an abnormal movement state of the driven body cannot be securely detected by the switch mechanism of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 61-67882.